Drum



of Chicago,

ful Improvemen following is a spe My invention provements in whether,

but relates m tensioning the heads thereof.

drum is formed of a r over each end ofwhich is f skin or vellum. t cylindrical in form and type may be,

or otherwise,

to means for The usual form of hollow cylinde tightly stretched a Some drums are no e skin. In everyor vellum must be very ched in order that the sound be correct. rtant for a number of reasons n of the s have only a singl however, the skin tightly stret tained at a this be done mer,

UNITED STATE.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that a citizen of the county 0 5 Illinois, have inventedcertain new and I, IVES piece 0 when beaten will It is impo that the tensio drum when be mentally affect the p particularly w ing played. in an orchestra.

Again, uniformity in drums here common 'occurre heretofore used, the maintenance 0 the tuning of f thattone 'qu cult, if not impossible, of attainment. or example, if the drum be tensioned in a room 'v'en temperature or on, the tension on the body of the drum whichit will be understood, is a hollow cylinder and which may or locality having a g1 different climatic conditi 40 the skin or vellum,

to such an extent th thesame drum the temperature a lent enough the skin will be destroyed. ItEis an object of my invention to provide skin 2, at one end and a skin 3, at the other 'a drum construction in which itshall be pose and maintaina desired tonal hough the drum be subjected nd clim to temperatu I an object of" Again it mized, if not ent It is also an provide a dru tually serve no struction w tice upon the user WESLEY n. mason,

or onrcaso, rumors.

DRUM.

V Specification of Letters Yatent.

Application filed October of tension is desirable 30 for the reason that if toostron'g-a tension tension indicating feature; and

be applied, the skinwill break and tofore devise will be found to vary at the tonal quality of will be 'diiferent, indeed. If at'ic' change be vioto imkin should be mainpredeterm ned tension for unless the sound emanating aten will vary an erformance' o hen the instrumen from the d-thus detrif the "drumt is bein fact d this is quite a nce. With constructions, fi'omthe otherlparts.

a drum an'd ality is diffimy invention to provide a drum OOHStIUCtlOIIiIIWhlCh breakage of the skin shall be very greatly miniirely eliminated. I obj ect' of my invention to hich shall acin the event V Patented Sept. 27', 1921. 6, 1919. ;Serial No. 328,803.

of a dangerous tension being placed upon LEY D. NELSON, the drum skin so that the tension may be United States, and a resident Cook, and State of usets 1n Drums, of which the Y cification. relates generally, drums no matter what the base, snare,tympanic, ore particularly readily corrected not only to restore tonal qliiiality but to prevent destruction of the s n.

objects, together w' th others that will appear to the accompanying drawings which illustrate what I consider, at thelpresent time, to bathe best e bodiment thereof.

In said drawings: Figure 1, is an elevation of a drum embodying my invention, one of theparts being shown in section better to disclose the. interior construction thereof. Fig. 2, is a fragmentary enlarged scale of one or. the tension'ing mem bers or devices. v

Fig. 3, is: adetailed view illustratingthe Fig. his a'view of one ofthe members of the tension 1 indicator, separate and apart 5 is :a sectional view ofthe. body of the drum 1 and thehoops 4 and, 5 showing the tensioning device in position and indicating how the device acts upon the skins.

In Fig. 1, of the drawings, 1, represents be of metal, wood orcomposite materials, in accordance with approved or desired practice. This is adrum'construction whichis much used and which is providedwith a I. aim also'to provide a drum construction hereinafter, are attainable, and my invention form, will be more readily understood by reference view upon an end, which are stretched over the ends of the cylinder by means of the hoops or bands 4 and 5, respectively. IVhen the hoops 1. and

'5, are moved towardthe center of the drum, a. longitudinally inward, the skins 2 and 3 are subjected to a greater tension and p 4c and 5 are moved in the opposite direction the tension is relieved or in other words, the skin is less taut. Of course, the action of a single skin and the single hoop or band may be considered as a sufficient when I 'SCllbGCl. Obviously Figs. 3 and4 and for the the opening 31 with th end of the drum is usually used as a snare head when the drum is of the construction shown.

drum and which may vary in number and spacing, depending upon variations in the size of the drum. Each of these tensioning devices is alike in construction and operation, and for this reason a description of the construction and operation of one will serve for all.

he tension device comprises in the present instance, a tubular as by means of straps member 7 are threaded as indicated at 9 and 10, for co-action with the cap members 11 and 12. he caps 11 and 12 are provided with central openings 13 and 14, respectively, 1n vwhich are slidably mounted cylindrical members 15 and 16, respectively, and which have portions 17 and 18, respectively, which extend a considerable distance into the tubular member 7. At the inner ends of the members 17 and 11:3 will be found 2, are interposed coil Rods 27 engage devices 29 and 30, which the hoops .4 and 5 whereby the tension of the skins 2 and 3 can be altered as before depending upon the size and character of the springs. The tension of the springs 25 and 26 may be changed byturn ing the rods 27 D and T as is best shown in purpose of disclosthese symbols the caps are cut away pressed letters T shows through e arrows 82 in line with the outer end of the cap. Should climatic changes, or temperature conditions would be placed unhave provided a num-c course, yields to a considerable posed between said for drawing saidhoop, said der a very great tension the member 15 or 16, as t e case ma would move outwardly compressing the spring and bringing the letter D would indicate be very quickly restored to normal by simply turning the rods 27 and 28 to slightly lengthen them. The spring construction, of extent and in preventing breakage of The drummer can very readily is very helpful the skins.

is cisclosure will suggest which this appertains, certain modifications whereby the substantial objects and purposes of my invention may be attained I do not wishto be limited to the specific shown and described, except as may be necessary by limitation in the hereunto appended claims. v

I claim:

1. A drum, a skin therefor, placing said skin under tension for drawing said hoop, said including a device fastened rod slidable in said device, a spring interdevice and the end of said rod, means at the other end of the rod for engaging said hoop, and symbols on said and means drawing means to the drum, a

slidable rod to indicate the degree of ten sion. 2. A drum, a skin therefor, a hoop for in under tension and means drawing means to the drum, a

placing said sk including a device fastened rod slidable in said device, a spring interposed between said device and the end of Said rod, means at the other end of the rod for engaging said hoop, and symbols on said slidable rod to indicate the degree of tension, said rod being composed of sections and screw means for adjusting same.

3. A drum, a skin therefor, a hoop for placing said skin under tension and means said drawing means including a device fastened to the drum, a rod slidable in said device, a spring positioned to tend to move the rod axially of t e rum, means forengaging said hoo r V of the rod results in=corresponding movement of the means for disclosing the degree of tension of the skin whereby it is possible to place the skin underdesired predetermined tension.

11 testimony have hereunto set my hand, this 12th day of September, 1919..

W'ESLEY D. NELSON.

hoop, and 

